It’s January in Australia, where the weather’s hot and the racing about to get even hotter.
There’s the Queensland State Championships from 24 January on the future Olympic regatta course at Lake Wyaralong and the New South Wales Rowing Championships from 7 February at the 2000 Olympic regatta course in Penrith. Victoria, South Australia and the Australian Capital Territory also host their state championships in February and March before attention turns to Tasmania and the Australian Rowing Championships on Lake Barrington from 24 March.
There’s never been a better time to be a talented rower, either. There are seats up for grabs in the national squad after the poor performances at the Paris Olympic Games; likewise, a home Olympic Games in Brisbane in 2032 will be well and truly on the horizon for every young rower. Australia is yet to win a home rowing gold after 1956 and 2000; will one of these rowers break that drought?
Kinross Wolaroi
At a big regatta over the Australian summer? Chances are you’ll hear the commentators mention the bright blue boats of Kinross Wolaroi pulling away from their competition as they surge to another win. At last year’s Australian Rowing Championships, they went back to Orange with gold and bronze in the schoolgirl coxed quad, along with gold in the U17 schoolgirl’s coxed eight, gold and silver in the quad sprint, and bronze in the U17 coxed quad and single scull.
And that was just the girls.
This season’s been no different. Xanthe Staniforth, Tessa Wong, Olivia Searle and Lucy Reidy won the quads and fours events at the 2024 NSW All Schools Championships. With Searle and Wong backing up from last year’s national winning crew and Staniforth part of the bronze medal-winning crew, it will take an enormous effort to stop the crew in blue walking away with gold again.
Queensland Under-23s
2024 was a big year for Queensland’s young female rowers. There was the first Bicentennial Cup in eight years and a national title for Hannah Kenway and Eliza Bridgefoot in the U23 double. They then teamed up with Jessica and Sophie Malcolm to win the U23 quad, with Sophie also winning the U21 single.
Sophie and Eliza formed half of the Australian U23 quad that came fifth at the U23 World Rowing Championships in St Catharines, Canada. In November, Eliza was also invited to the National Training Centre (NTC) trials. While she missed out this time, she’s clearly not far off joining an already sizable University of Queensland contingent down in Penrith.
Danica Free made it four Queensland women in the U23 single final last year. She also represented Queensland in the interstate single, finishing a credible fourth behind Olympic single sculler Tara Rigney, Tokyo bronze medallist Ria Thompson, and former Australian representative Cara Grzeskowiak. She also represented Australia at the U23 World Rowing Championships, finishing sixth in the double sculls.
With the Olympic Games coming to their home state in 2032, there’s plenty of motivation to keep improving for these young Queensland rowers.
Eleanor Price
Injuries haven’t always been kind to Sydney University’s Eleanor Price – but she’ll be hoping that’s behind her. A member of the women’s eight that won gold at World Rowing Cup III in Lucerne in 2022, Price returned to Australian colours in 2024 with selection in the fours and eights at World Rowing Cup I in Varese. She’s recently made her way back to the Women’s National Training Centre after some strong results in NSW time trials with former Wisconsin and Oxford Brookes rower Taylor Caudle in the pair. With post-Olympic changes expected in the national team, she’s well-placed to reclaim a sweep seat in 2025.
Catherine Khan
Whisper it quietly, but down in Canberra there’s an athlete achieving some significant results. The Australian National University’s Catherine Khan had a 2024 to remember with bronze in the women’s single sculls at the national championships and fifth with Sophie Reinehr in the double. Predominantly a sculler, Khan has been near the top of the recent NSW time trials and will be looking to claim a seat in the double or quad in 2025.
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